Sexomnia: having sex while you sleep

It is known as sexomnia to a sleep disorder also called sexual sleepwalking or sleep sex; it is the appearance of masturbation, movements of sexual activity or pronunciation of phrases with sexual content during the phase of deep sleep. This unusual alteration of sleep consists, as its own name suggests, in practicing sex even when asleep.

People with this condition usually have some other sleep disorder such as sleepwalking, sleeping talk, night terrors and teeth grinding.

People with sexsomnia are even able to have sex while they are asleep but, in general, they have no idea what they have done until they face the evidence or the claim of another person.

Research from the University Hospital Quirón Madrid also indicates that there is a genetic predisposition to this disorder and that certain factors that interrupt sleep such as stress, apnea, or drug and alcohol use can trigger its presence.

Its prevalence is unknown due to its rarity and probable infradiagnosis derived from its ignorance and the modesty of patients and physicians to describe it.

According to a report presented at the annual Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC meeting, sexomnia was reported by almost eight percent of patients in a sleep disorder center and was more common in men than in women.

The results indicate that 7.6 percent of the patients (63 of 832) reported that they had initiated or had sexual intercourse with a bed partner while they were asleep. The prevalence of sexomnia reported was almost three times higher in men (11 percent) than in women (four percent).

“While our finding that eight percent of people reporting sexsomnia appears to be a high number, it should be noted that we only study patients referred to a sleep clinic, so we expect the figures to be much lower. in the general population, “said Sharon A. Chung, PhD, a scientist at the Sleep Research Laboratory in the department of psychiatry at the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada.

In the same study, 15.9% of patients who reported suffering from sexomnia admitted consuming illicit drugs.

In addition, the scientists found that only four of the 832 patients mentioned an incident related to sexual insomnia to their doctor, despite the fact that almost 8% of the participants had had it.

Remember that any type of sex should be consensual and when all parties are in full use of their facultdes, therefore, although this sleep disorder might seem like fun, can have very serious legal, emotional and physical consequences for it, before Any symptom or suspicion of having it go to a professional.